


Secret Meetings

by Lola_Rose_Robins



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, But He Met Haise, But he's also kind of an asshole, Drag Queens, Eventual Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Haise Does Drag, Happy Ending, Hide Did Lose His Face, Hyperfocus, I Don't Even Know, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I was hungry when I wrote this, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, It's Tokyo Ghoul After All, M/M, Mutsuki Has Hyperfocus, No Smut, Not Beta Read, Parent Akira, Parent Arima Kishou, Puns & Word Play, So I Mentioned Food A Lot, Stimming, The Chateau, The Quinx Squad - Freeform, hide has adhd, hidehaise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28713819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lola_Rose_Robins/pseuds/Lola_Rose_Robins
Summary: Haise keeps sneaking out at night, time to find out where he's going, what he's doing and who he's meeting.[It starts out with one story and at some point turns into a completely different one.]
Relationships: Kaneki Ken | Sasaki Haise/Nagachika Hideyoshi
Kudos: 33





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be just 800 words or something....
> 
> Please note that this was all written in one sitting and barely edited. This is pure stream of consciousness.  
> I'm pretty sure you'll be able to find the switch between my brain writing during the day and during the night.  
> I started out with a prompt and as the sun set, the story just became a different one. Oops.

###  The meeting

Saiko entered the meeting room late that morning, piggyback riding on Shirazu’s back, but none of this was surprising. No, the weird part was that Saiko, even though she was late, still wasn’t as late as Haise. 

The young half ghoul had already missed his training with Arima that morning, and now he was missing an important meeting. For someone who always made it a point to be way too early, being 5 hours late is pretty damn significant. 

Arima was just about to get up and leave the meeting, to go out and track the boy down, when Haise came stumbling into the room. The boy rubbed the back of his neck and tried to sound cheery and apologetic with a rough voice.

“Greetings! I’m sorry for being late. I must have gotten lost on the way here.”

He let out a nervous chuckle before he resumed his stumbling journey towards his seat.

His two-toned hair was messy and the still wet strands hid his eyes from view. The buttons on his shirt were done out of order and his tie was backwards. His feet, clad in mismatched shoes, dragged over the floor as he stumbled towards the table and sat down. His slight wince, no matter how silent, was clearly audible in the silence.

Haise didn’t look up as everyone stared at him on the way over. He didn’t look up when he fell backwards into his chair. He didn’t look up when he’d gotten his notepad out, ready for the meeting. 

“Sassan, are you okay,” Shirazu whispered, leaning in to try and catch a glimpse of his eyes.

“Don’t worry, Shirazu dear, I’m perfectly alright, just tired.” Hasie turned to face him and even mustered up a small smile. “Shirazu, your hair is a mess.” He raised up a hand and smoothed out the strands of hair that stuck out in the back. He patted Shirazu’s shoulder one last time before lowering his hand again.

Shirazu was speechless,  _ his  _ hair was messy? He tilted his head to one side and squinted at his mentor, whose eyes were still hidden behind the curtain of hair. 

“Oh geez, I wonder why you’re so tired maman /s. Maybe it’s because you keep sneaking out at night,” Saiko called him out from across the table. 

Haise froze up and a tense silence fell in the room. A flash of worry played over Saiko’s face, she hadn’t meant to say that quite so loud after all, but it was soon replaced with a look of determination. She’d called him out now, so they might as well get to the bottom of this. 

A chair was thrown backwards, sliding about halfway to the wall before finally coming to a stop. Haise turned his head to look, only to find a furious Arima walking towards him with big leaps. 

The reaper grabbed Haise’s hair and yanked his head backwards, before roughly removing the hair from his face. 

Where he’d expected to find two mismatched eyes, one human and one ghoul, he instead found just two human ones, red rimmed with massive bags under them, the pupils blown up, the soft grey irises reduced to just thin rings around the black pools. 

Arima glared at him for a good minute before violently pushing his head back forwards again. Haise wasn’t quite prepared for that so his head flew forwards and bounced off of the surface of the table. He sat back up and rubbed his forehead. At least it didn’t hurt too bad, or rather, the pain got drowned out by the massive headache that was already there when he’d come in. 

The rest of the meeting was uneventful. Haise spent most of the time looking down at the table, trying to escape the withering stares everyone was giving him.

* * *

###  Stake out

It had been six days since the meeting room incident. Arima and Akira had been staking out the Chateau every evening, closely monitoring Haise’s movements. They had volunteered to do it themselves, since they both still felt that haise was their responsibility and, since haise had once referred to them as his parent figures, the ccg figured he was less likely to kill them if they were found out. 

However, the past six days had gone by without a single suspicious move from the young ghoul. They were almost ready to leave when a movement caught their attention. 

There he was, climbing out through his bedroom window and dropping to the floor one story below. He didn’t appear to take anything with him. He was travelling lightweight and without anything that could potentially restrict his movements. 

The boy sprinted the short distance to the street and started walking, keeping his head down. 

Arima and Akira quietly slipped out of the car and began following Haise from a distance. A few times they paused and hid in the shadows to observe as Haise crossed paths with a lone, defenseless human, but every time Haise just kept on walking. If he wasn’t hunting, then where was he going?

The path he took was pretty straightforward. A few main roads, only three changes in direction, until he stopped and looked around a few times before quickly slipping into a dark alley. 

A 2 quietly ran over to the alleyway and peeked around the corner. They were just in time to see Haise enter a door on the right. 

This was it, whatever it was. Maybe a secret ghoul hideout, or an important ghoul operation? It was worth checking out. 

The secret door connected to a large building and judging from the light through the matted windows the inside was quite large. The two humans decided to check around the perimeter of the building, to look for another entrance. 

Around the back of the building, or rather the front since it was by an actual road, a set of double doors led into the building. A line of people was waiting to enter. A sign above the doors told them that this was a club. 

Arima and Akira met eyes, both of them confused, they weren’t quite expecting this, Haise wasn’t really the type to go clubbing. He must be meeting someone, maybe this club was just a front for a ghoul organization. They had to go in to check, so they walked over and got in the back of the line. 

The line was short, so the two of them got in in no time, which was five minutes give or take. 

Inside they briefly split up. Arima found a table in the back with a pretty good view of the room and Akira got them some drinks, they had to blend in after all. 

They found Haise pretty quickly, sipping his drink at the bar, nothing suspicious about him...yet.

An older, slender man in formal attire entered the bar and headed straight for the young boy. They talked for a minute before both getting up and heading for the backroom.

Now this was getting weird. 

A woman entered the stage, dressed in the most outrageous attire and makeup, and started excitedly talking to the crowd. Akira was enamoured, but Arima drowned out the voice and tried to focus on finding Haise as soon as possible. 

The crowd cheered for some reason. It was not of import. He still had to find Haise. 

Suddenly Akira punched him in the arm. He looked at her, annoyed for breaking him out of his concentration, but soon noticed the look of confusion and shock on her face. She motioned towards the stage with her eyes. Arima looked over at the two women who had just joined the first woman there, one of them was pretty young, a teenager maybe, the other was a bit older. Neither of them were the same age as him or Akira, so why she found them so important was a mystery to him. 

Although, the younger woman looked vaguely familiar. Had they met before? In his mind he searched through all of the ghouls they had on file, none of them matched. Was she someone they worked with, a colleague? 

The young woman turned a little, her face now a lot more visible. It finally clicked, Arima had finally seen what Akira was so shocked about. The young woman on stage, the one with the short, ruffled dress and the wildly coloured wig was their very own Haise Sasaki. 

He’d heard about Haise being suspiciously good at drag during the auction raid, so this really shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did, but he was still speechless. 

The both of them just stared at Haise as he performed on stage, way more confident than they’d ever seen him. 

\----

After having been away for a week, it took a little for Haise to get back into the rhythm. As he walked onto the stage with his performing partner, Kanzo (though in this place he was better known under his stage name Madame Ivana), he kept his head down. He did overact in his shyness a little bit to be able to pass it off as part of the show. 

While Madame Ivana and The Master were busy hyping up the crowd, Haise took the time to calm his nerves. He ran through the program in his head one last time. Ivana and him were going to be the show openers, they had one song in the middle, right after Misa, and then at the end they’d sing one last song. He’d been the one to pick the final song that week. He’d chosen an acoustic version of the song ‘Unravel’, not because he particularly loved the song or anything, it just really reminded him of someone. Though he could not for the life of him remember who it was. 

\----

The show went well. Haise and the others stepped down the stage and started to mingle with the crowd, chatting and laughing, dealing with the occasional flirtation, the usual. He’d been lost in his own mind and so didn’t notice the two figures rapidly moving towards him, not until he practically bumped into one of them. He looked up with a small smile, apologizing for his clumsiness, when he saw who it was, staring down at him.

“Haise,” Arima spoke without a trace of emotion on his face. As always, his tone had given nothing away, but Haise just assumed he disapproved, as he always did of everything Haise had ever done. 

“Arima-san, Akira-san, what are you two doing here on this lovely evening,” he spoke, trying to remain cheerful, but even he could hear how his voice broke halfway through the sentence. Akira stepped out from behind Arima and approached the young boy. Haise instinctively took a step back, and another, until he was backed up against a table, both of his parents in front of him. 

“So,” Akira started, sounding only slightly angry, “this is where you’ve been sneaking off to?”

Haise swallowed hard and just nodded in response. 

“Yeah, yeah, I-I needed a hobby. A friend of mine told me about this place. I’m sorry! I’m sorry, it won’t happen again, I promise!” 

Akira reached a hand out towards him, Haise flinched and leaned back, almost as if he were trying to become part of the table that was now uncomfortably pressing into his spine. 

“Hey!”

A hand came out of nowhere and hit Akira’s hand away. The owner of the hand stepped in between Haise and his parents. He recognised her as another one of the performers, but her name kinda slipped his mind sadly, still he felt grateful.

“Who the fuck do you two think you are, huh?  Coming back only one week after drugging young Sasako here? What, trying to kidnap him for real this time? That’s not happening, not on my watch!"

Everyone fell quiet. Akira looked shocked and even Arima’s otherwise stoic face had fallen. 

“Drugged?” Akira gasped, a hand raised to her mouth.

“Yeah, or don’t you-” Haise put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from revealing any more. “It’s okay, these are my parents.”

“Oh…I’m sorry, I noticed they were making you uncomfortable and I jumped to conclusions,” she turned towards Arima and Akira, “I’m sorry for that! Pleasure to meet you both, your kid is absolutely lovely!” And with that, she left again, though she did remain at a distance, watching them, just in case. 

“Akira-san, Arima-san, I’m sorry, I should have told you, but I-”

“When was this,” Arima interjected.

“When was what?”

“When did you get drugged, Haise?”

“Eh, one week ago.”

“Before the meeting?”

“Yes”

Arima thought about it for a while, before continuing his interrogation. “What happened after?”

“I-I don’t remember. I just woke up in a dumpster, halfway through the morning. That’s why I was late, I actually did get lost on my way to work, and I had to pick up my clothes back here.” 

The story was out now. The three of them stood in silence for a while. Haise was sure he’d get in trouble for this, at best he’d just get scolded, at worst he’d be locked up for a while. Whatever it was, he’d accept it, he knew it was pointless to try and run now. He thought about all the different punishments Arima would give him for this; would he just lock him up, or torture him too, maybe he’d bash his head open against a wall for good measure. Infinite possibilities.

“You, eh, you were good,” Akira said, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“What?”

“Your show, it was good, you were good.” Haise just stared at her, dumbfounded. “I could really feel the emotion. And the people here really do seem to like you.”

Haise was speechless. Akira...wasn’t mad at him? He glanced over at Arima. There was no way he’d just let this go. His face was still stoic and his glare practically burned a hole through Haise, but he didn’t seem too angry, that was just his normal face. 

The man reached a hand into his pocket and pulled something out. Haise squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the sting of a blade or the sharp, shooting pain of a bullet, but it didn’t come. Instead, something soft was pressed against his cheek, wiping away tears he hadn’t even noticed were falling. 

He opened his eyes again and met Arima’s. The man’s face was still devoid of expression, but this time his eyes were soft, no longer glaring but just calmly inspecting his face, looking for any more smudges in his makeup. When he was pleased with the results he stepped away again, reverting to his emotionless self. Haise smiled a little at his parents, relieved to see they weren’t angry. 

Akira pulled him into a quick hug. “Well, looks like we’re done here. We are going home, do you want to walk with us or are you going to stay?”

“No, I think I’ll stay just a little while longer, thank you.”

Akira nodded and turned around. Arima leaned in to say some last words to Haise, “don’t be late,” before turning to follow Akira. 

“I won’t,” Haise answered, not sure if his words were heard at all.

* * *

###  The morning after

Haise strode into the meeting room ten minutes early, closely followed by a still half asleep quinx squad. He was in a pretty good mood. He’d spent the rest of his evening last night, hanging out with Ivana and Misa, where Ivana had told him stories about her travels and Misa had tried to introduce him to some of the younger patrons of the bar. There were definitely some good-looking guys and gals among them, but none of them really sparked his interest. 

Akira and Juuzou were already there, playing some fast paced card game. When Juuzou noticed him walking in, the young boy jumped up and ran over, “Haise!”

Haise laughed and raised his arms, allowing Juuzou to frisk him and ‘steal’ all of his candy. He’d hidden eight pieces, and smirked when he saw that the kid had only found seven. He calmly waltzed over to his seat and leaned back, putting his feet on the chair next to him, triumphantly pulling out his last candybar and eating it without breaking eye contact with Juuzou. He heard Urie sigh dramatically before sitting down next to him, and just to tease him he reached over to rough up his hair. Urie hit his hand away angrily and haise had to stop himself from bursting into laughter right then and there. Juuzou had no such inhibitions and soon the room was filled with his manic, high-pitched giggles. 

The meeting itself was pretty uninteresting, even Arima’s eyes had started wandering about halfway through. Luckily it was a pretty short meeting, just a quick rundown of completed tasks in the past week. Haise didn’t really remember many of them, he’d been a bit absent mentally the last few days. He was probably just still a bit disoriented from the roofies ( _ wasn’t that only supposed to last for like two days though? _ ). 

The quinxes got off early that day. They even had time to go into town and get something at a cafe. They picked a small place with a view of the park. Haise knew the place because he’d gone there before with the other drag queens. It was a bit risky to go here as himself, but he remembered how amazing the coffee here was, and how good the food looked (Saiko would definitely love it here, she’d probably even declare it her new home the second they walked in). 

Haise pushed open the doors and held them to let his kids in. As soon as they were all inside, their attention was grabbed. Shirazu marvelled at the decor, Tooru smiled as he saw how nice and secluded all the tables were and Urie stared appreciatively at the artwork on the walls. Saiko let out a loud gasp, “maman! I am moving out of the chateau, this is my home, these are my people!” Haise laughed.  _ I knew it. _

It was a rather cozy, homely place. The tables were each placed in a little cubicle of their own, with each cubicle decorated to look like rooms in a house. The main walls of the place were painted white, allowing artists to draw on them as they pleased. Haise picked the table that looked like it was in a tiny library. It was also right next to the wall, so Urie immediately went for the box of art supplies, turning his back on the others and ignoring them to the best of his abilities. 

A girl came over to their table to take their order. As soon as she noticed Haise she smiled, “hey, I remember you! You were here with-” “Yes! Yes, nice to see you again, Kayo. These are my kids!” He knew it was rude to interrupt her, but he’d rather not have her talk about his... extracurricular activities in front of the squad. She seemed to get the message as she promptly asked, “So, what can I get for you all today?”

“PIE!”

With an exasperated sigh, Haise answered, “Just some black coffee for me please.”

Shirazu and Tooru each ordered some hot chocolate. Urie was still busy drawing, completely cut off from the world, “He’ll also have a hot chocolate, and Saiko too obviously,” Haise answered for him. The waitress smiled warmly and left them alone. 

“Hey, do you guys have any plans for the coming week? It’s pretty quiet lately and we have like, soo much free time, I don’t know what to do with myself,” Tooru asked. Haise knew that, if he didn’t have anything to do, he’d probably just start some random research project and get lost in time for a few days, which was fine, but the problem was that he’d also neglect his sleep. 

“Well, you could try going out a bit, maybe meet some people, make some friends. I know you don’t like it too much, but it’s worth a shot. I’ll even join you, we could go tonight!” Shirazu answered before Haise could. 

“Whaaaat, you’re going on a date without me? Urie-kun, can you believe it,” Saiko exclaimed, pulling on Urie’s sleeve to get his attention. He just grumbled something that sounded vaguely like a very sarcastic ‘how dare they’, which was enough for Saiko as she turned around, grinning widely, “see! Urie agrees with me! Now you have to take me with you. Are you coming too, maman?”

Haise was caught off guard by the question, “What? Eh, no, I have somewhere to be.”

“Whaaaat, our maman doesn’t even want to spend time with us? Do you not love us anymore, Maman? /j”

“Of course I do! I just,”

“Are you seeing someone,” Tooru interrupted. “I mean, you have been sneaking out of the house a lot, and you only come back early in the morning.”

“Ooooh, who are you seeing, Sassan?” 

Everyone was now looking at him. 

“I-I’m not seeing anyone yet, I just...what I do in my free time is my business and I’d appreciate it if you’d let this go.”

The waitress arrived with their order and the quinxes reluctantly let the matter go. 

\----

That night, they split up. The quinxes went to whatever bar they had chosen for the night and Haise went to work. He felt bad about leaving the kids alone, but he couldn’t just call in sick the day of. This time, he’d taken his phone with him and they promised to keep in contact throughout the night, Saiko had even made a groupchat. 

As he walked down the street, his phone buzzed. He looked at the screen.

_ Saiko: “Missing Maman. Just three wayward orphans clubbing.” _ She’d attached a selfie with the three of them sitting at a table drinking,  _ was that alcohol?! Oh well, they are adults… _

Haise laughed and replied: “ _ Stay safe darlings, I’ll see you all tonight. And don’t drink too many of those, also don’t forget to drink some water every once in a while.” _

_ Saiko: “We got it maman, have fun!” _

_ Haise: I will. _

He put the phone back in his pocket and continued walking. He slipped into the dark alleyway and walked over to the door. He knocked three times and a hatch opened up, “Sasako, darling! There you are.” The door opened and The Master pulled him in by his arm. They walked through the tight corridors and entered the dressing room. It was still pretty early, but one could never start with their makeup soon enough. It’d be nice to do it without rushing. As Haise started on his face, The master did the same next to him. She’d been the one to introduce him to this hobby, teaching him to do everything, lending him her own things. 

“So, I heard your parents were here last time,” the woman said as she added some more wing to her eyeliner.

“Yeah, they were. They followed me all the way from home, apparently,” Haise replied.

“How’d that go?”

“They took it...well, way better than I’d expected.”

“You sure? You know we’re here for you, right?”

“Yes, I do, thank you.”

They continued in silence. Some of their other friends entered and soon the room was bustling with activity. 

“Here, let me get that for you,” Misa said as she noticed Haise fumbling with his hair. A few wisps and curls refused to stay in place and kept bouncing all over the place. Haise leaned back in the seat as Misa worked on his hair. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and took it out to look. 

It was a private message from Urie:  _ Just letting you know, the stain in the carpet was NOT me. _ He smiled to himself, he should have left Urie with a cookbook at least _ , maybe then his late-night snacks wouldn’t be as messy. _

“Hmm, boyfriend,” The Master asked.

“What? Oh, no, just my kid.”

“Oh, you have kids? How sweet, got any pictures?”

Haise laughed and pulled up his profile picture; a group photo of him and the squad.

“They’re cute! Hey girls, look at this, it’s Sasako’s kids, aren’t they sweet?”

Haise waited patiently as his phone circulated around the room, eliciting squeals of excitement from his colleagues. 

When they were done with their makeup, The Master started handing everyone their outfits for the night. 

“You okay with this, or do you want me to grab something longer?” She asked him. Haise looked at the outfit; short, fluffy, colourful, not something he’d ever worn before, but that didn’t mean he’d never try it. 

“Nah, this is fine.”

“Cool, remember the routine we practised?”

Of course he remembered. He subconsciously rubbed at his thighs, where a few small bruises were still present from last time. He nodded. 

They were ready.

\----

The show went without a hitch. Haise found that he quite enjoyed his flashy new outfit. After the show, he went over to Misa (sadly Ivana wasn’t here tonight) and they chatted happily as Misa once again tried to set him up with several patrons. None of them of any particular interest. That is, until he noticed an unfamiliar face. The young man caught his gaze and pushed himself off the wall, he started walking towards Haise. 

“Hello,” the man said excitedly. His voice sounded slightly robotic and his mouth was hidden behind a mask depicting a bright yellow smiley face with a sly smile, the yellow matched the colour of the boy’s bleached hair, some brown roots gave his hair a sunflower-like look. It suited him. 

“Hi,” he replied.  _ Hi, really, do you have nothing more to say? _

“I saw your performance, you’re pretty good at that, aren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, I’ve been doing it for quite a while now. I don’t think I’ve seen your face before, are you new here?” He could have sworn he saw sadness in the man’s eyes as he asked that. Had this man expected him to recognise him? Haise was absolutely positive that he’d never met this man. Maybe...Did Kaneki know him? The man did feel very familiar. Haise felt at ease around him, like he could truly do anything and the man wouldn’t judge.

“Yeah, I’m new here. I don’t really go out much anymore.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. What happened?”

“I lost my best friend, Kaneki.”

Kaneki, so he  _ did _ know him! Haise didn’t know what to say. He wanted to console the man who used to be his friend, but he couldn’t even remember his name. 

“I’m Hide, by the way.” The man stuck his hand out and Haise accepted it, “Haise, but in here I’m Sasako,” he laughed, “nice to meet you again, Hide, even if I don’t remember you.”

The two of them talked. Haise found him surprisingly easy to get along with and by the end of the evening they’d even exchanged phone numbers, but it was getting late and the kids would start to worry soon. Haise excused himself and headed to the dressing room to get changed. When he came back out, wearing his regular pinstripe suit, face clean of makeup, he was surprised to see Hide still there. 

“Heyo, wanna walk together for a bit? I mean, I don’t know where you live, but I assume we can walk in the same direction for at least a minute.”

“Yeah sure.”

Haise wished his friends at the bar goodnight and headed out the door, closely followed by the sunflower boy. 

“I’m going this way,” he said and started walking. Hide followed close behind, catching up to him until they were walking side-by-side. 

“So, what are you up to these days,” Hide asked as he balanced on the curb. 

“Hm, not much. I work for the ccg, but that’s really all I do.”

“Ccg? Y’know, I used to work there once!”

“Why did you quit?”

“Oh, I might’ve gotten in a little bit of an accident,” Hide laughed nervously. 

“Is that what happened to your face? By the way, I haven’t seen you without that mask yet.” Haise was curious, who could blame him. A long lost friend just showed up at his job. 

“Oh, trust me buddy, you don’t want to see this. It’s not pretty, unlike the rest of me.” With those last words, Hide pulled his hands up, cupping his chin. 

Haise chuckled. “Still, I want to see it, see you.”

Hide stopped and looked around for a bit before grabbing his hand and pulling him along. Haise had no choice but to follow him. They ran through the dark streets until they reached some abandoned playground. Hide helped him climb on top of some weird dome-thing and then sat down, motioning for him to do the same. They sat there, face to face, their breaths forming small clouds in the air between them.

“Are you sure you want to see this?”

“Yes,” Haise answered.  _ Yes _ , an unfamiliar voice in his head said. 

Hide raised his hands up and started untying the mask. He pulled it off, revealing the skin underneath, or lack thereof. It looked like someone had just pulled the skin right off of his face. A whole muscle was missing, leaving a gaping hole in one of his cheeks. Haise didn’t know what to say.

“I know, gruesome isn’t it?”

What now? 

Haise reached out a hand and softly placed his fingers against the exposed muscle. Hide didn’t seem to be in any pain. 

He ran his fingers along the edge of the scar, which reached from ear to ear and all the way down to his neck.  _ I’m staring, I’m being creepy. _

“Oh, uh, I’m sorry,” he said and started to pull away again, but Hide placed a gentle hand on his wrist, keeping him in place. 

“It’s fine, I don’t mind,” he said. The sound was coming from a small device implanted in his throat. 

Haise’s finger touched something wet and he used his other hand to fish a handkerchief out of his pocket. He gently rubbed it across Hide’s cheek to clean up the saliva that leaked out from the hole in his face. 

“That tickles.”

Haise repeated the motion.

“Stop it!” Hide squealed as a chortling laugh escaped his throat. 

“But you’re leaking.” He only realised his words after he’d already said them. The both of them made eye contact and broke out into laughter. 

Hide leaned further away from Haise’s hand and Haise just leaned in more. Soon, hide was trapped against the dome beneath them, Haise on top of him,  _ straddling him _ . Neither of them remembered how they got into  _ that _ particular position, not that they were complaining. Haise leaned down more, elbow resting next to Hide’s head.

“Got you.”

He dabbed the handkerchief on the wet skin until it was completely clean, after he was done he planted a quick kiss on it before he even realised what he was doing. He stared at his friend with wide eyes.

“Damn.”

“Shut up.”

Haise pulled back, feeling his face and neck heat up. He just  _ did  _ that.

“We-we should probably go now. The kids are going to worry if I’m not back by two.”

“Kids? You have kids? That’s great! Can I meet them?”

“Not yet, maybe next time.”

“Cool!”

They slid down the dome. Haise nearly face planted into the sand, but luckily Hide was there to catch him. 

Together they walked through the night.

\----

It wasn’t until they’d reached the chateau that Haise realised Hide hadn’t left his side. He had to say goodbye now, otherwise they’d end up inside the home and he really wasn’t quite ready for that. Besides, he was too tired to handle the squad being over excited right now.

“It’s been fun, Hide. Thank you for walking me home.”

“Of course, can’t have you getting lost right when I’ve got you back again, can I”

The lights downstairs were still on, so the kids were awake. They’d have to keep this short.

“Goodnight! I’ll text you later.” Haise turned around, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

He turned back to face Hide, who pulled him into a tight hug, nuzzling him with his nose. Suddenly a hand was attacking his side, tickling him and sending the both of them into a fit of giggles.

“Shhh, shhh. Hide, we have to be quiet, the kids,” Haise whispered, still smiling. Hide teased one last time, rubbing his nose against Haise’s, before letting him go. 

“Night-night, Haise.”

“Goodnight, Hide.”

Haise stood there on his front porch, watching as Hide walked down the street, back the way they came. When he was finally out of sight, Haise turned around and entered his home. 

“Maman!”

As soon as the door closed behind him, he was jumped by Saiko, a very drunk Saiko. The blue-haired girl latched onto him like a koala and refused to let go even as he dragged her along to the sitting area. Both Shirazu and Urie were passed out on the couches. Tooru sat at the kitchen table, a number of books and notebooks open in front of him. He was awake, but he seemed to be too absorbed in his work to notice anyone else. 

“Saiko, it’s late, why don’t you go to bed?”

The answer came in the shape of soft snores behind him. He sighed softly before carrying the kid to her room. After that, he tried waking the two sleeping boys up, but eventually had to resort to carrying them all the way upstairs and into their rooms. 

Lastly, he walked over to Tooru and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Ah! Sassan! Sorry, I didn’t hear you come home...where are the others?”

“They’re already in bed, as should you.” 

The boy glanced down at the messy pile of paperwork on the table.

“Go to bed, Mutsuki, I’ll clean this up.”

Tooru nodded and got out of his chair. Haise waited until he heard his door close before gathering the paper into a neat pile and putting it into a folder. 

He made a short round through the room. The mess wasn’t too bad, just a few empty bags and of course the carpet stain. As he inspected it, he learned that even that wasn’t too bad. He covered it in a mixture of water, soap and vinegar and turned off the lights. 

As a last thought he grabbed a few bottles of water from the fridge before heading upstairs. He left a bottle on everyone’s nightstand. There, now he’d done enough, he could finally go to sleep himself. 

He stumbled into his room and fell onto his bed, not bothering to actually get underneath his blanket. He sent one last text before falling into a deep sleep, filled with forgettable but pleasant dreams.

\----

_ Gnitw, Hidr. _

Hide smiled at the text as he ate his soup in silence. The light from his screen was really the only working light in the small apartment right now and the darkness that surrounded him felt heavy and threatening. Still, he knew he was safe, no one would come looking for him here, no one even knew he was alive anyway. 

He thought back about this crazy day. He’d literally just been looking through dumpsters to try and find some snacks when none other than Kaneki - freaking - Ken just walks right past him. So obviously he stalks the guy, what else was he supposed to do, only to find out that his best friend, shy little Kaneki, had taken up the new hobby of being a badass drag queen and a parent apparently. It was all just a bit overwhelming. 

Hide checked the time. 2am. He still had to wait an hour until he could be sure it was safe enough to let his guard down. What now? Meh, might as well do some more research. He’d recently gotten really into the history of sign language and nonverbal communication, after he’d found a book about it during one of his biweekly dumpster diving trips. It wasn’t like he had no money, he actually had plenty of that, he just happened to be dead right now, technically, and it’d be weird for a dead person to go around renting apartments and buying food. So he decided to stay on the street for a little while, just as a temporary solution. 

The book was quite interesting and also happened to be quite relevant to him, for whatever reason. 

He opened up the booklet and started reading, signing along with his hands as he went. Five minutes later his alarm went off, telling him an hour had passed.

He checked outside the door one last time before retreating into the darkest corner and dozing off. 

* * *

###  The hangover

Haise was already downstairs and had almost finished cooking breakfast when three very groggy teenagers came tumbling into his kitchen.

“Good morning, Mutsuki, Urie, Shirazu. Please, sit down, breakfast is almost ready.”

“Sassan, how come you’re always so cheery in the morning, even after a night out?”

“Because, Shirazu, I can actually drink responsibly. Now eat your breakfast while I go and wake up Saiko.” He put the plates of food down in front of them, trying not to inhale too much of the smell. As a ghoul, human food already smelled bad, but for some reason eggs smelled absolutely horrendous, a shame really, he used to quite like eggs. 

He walked down the little hallway and knocked on the door to Saiko’s room. No answer. He opened the door and leaned in, “Saiko, dear. Breakfast is ready, are you coming?”

Saiko just rolled over, grumbling something. 

Haise walked over to the bed and gave her a gentle push, “Saiko. Breakfast.” Two blue eyes opened up and studied his face curiously. Haise smiled and whispered, “Food.”

Saiko was up and next to the bed in a second. She wasn’t quite on her feet, but she was certainly next to the bed now. Haise stuck an arm out and helped her stand up. 

“Here, drink this.” He handed her the bottle of water from the nightstand and walked out of the room. 

A few minutes later they all sat and enjoyed breakfast (a cup of coffee is enough of a breakfast). 

“So, maman, time to spill the tea.”

“I don’t have-”

“It’s a figure of speech.”

“Right, yes, I know that. What do you want to know about?”

“Did you find a girlfriend yet? Or boyfriend, I don’t judge.”

Haise thought about it. He did find Hide, but he wasn’t quite sure what to call their relationship yet. Sure, they’d gotten a bit...physical... the previous evening, but that could just be attributed to the fact that they were both just slightly drunk. They’d have to meet again, sober this time, to sort that out. 

Haise pulled his lips into a thin smile and just said, in the most mystical tone he could muster, “Mayhaps”, before taking a good long sip from his coffee. 

Chaos was to be expected, and this time he was prepared for it. 

“OMG!! Who is it? When can we meet them?” Saiko yelled out. The neighbours probably heard that one.

“Well, I just want to figure out exactly what to call our relationship before inviting him over, so just be a little bit more patient, dear.”

“Ugh, fiine, but you have to tell us as soon as you know. This is a matter of the utmost importance!” 

The others were quiet, but most of them were enthusiastically nodding along with whatever Saiko was saying. They all wanted to meet this mystery guy. Even Urie had a curious look in his eyes, it was a nice change from the usual indifference or annoyance. 

The rest of the morning, the squad members continued asking their questions. Where does he live? What does he look like? How long have they known each other? Sadly, Haise could not give a solid answer to that last one. 

But finally, after hours of interrogation, they left him alone again. He quietly pulled out his phone while the others were preoccupied with the film that was playing on the big screen.

_ Haise: Can I see you again soon? _

The reply came not too long after, Hide must’ve been on his phone.

_ Hide: This evening at the park work for you? _

_ Haise: Sure! :) I’ll be there at 8. _

_ Hide: (: _

Haise put his phone away, but not before setting an alarm for seven o’clock, and turned his attention to the screen. They were watching some old, european horror film. It was quite weird, but it helped pass time. 

The day went by fast, just a few over-the-phone meetings with Arima, some paperwork that had to be filed and that’s it. Before he quite realised it, it was 6pm and he was cooking an early dinner for the squad. 

7pm. Haise told the squad goodbye.

“Have fun on your date, maman!”

“Don’t do anything stupid!”

“And if you do, send pictures!”

Urie stayed quiet, but he did wave, how nice of him. 

\------

“Yo, Kane- Haise!”

“Hey, Hide, thanks for meeting with me.”

“What is this, are we at work? Sit down, Haise, we’re here as friends, we’re already on a first name basis!”

“That’s because you didn’t really give me another name to call you by.”

It was true. Haise knew his first name, or actually just his nickname, but his full name was still a mystery to him. 

“Nagachika. It’s Hideyoshi Nagachika, but please just call me Hide.” the man looked at him with pleading eyes, like Haise calling him by his nickname was one of the most important things in the world right now. Haise also noticed the way the boy was fidgeting with the zipper on his jacket,  _ was he nervous? _

“Alright, Hide. I’m Haise Sasaki, but I guess you can just call me Haise then.”

“Cool,” Hide said as he jumped onto a dry leaf on the ground, softly humming when it audibly crunched. 

They walked for a little while before stopping by an empty bench. They sat down and a few moments passed in silence.

“So...what are we, Hide?”

Hide was caught off guard, “What are we? Ehm, human, mostly, alive. What do you mean exactly?”

“This...This thing. Is this a date? Are we dating?”

“Only if you want to. Do you want to?”

“Yes, yes I’d quite like that actually.”

Silence again, but this time it was actually pretty nice. Haise found himself smiling softly, that smile slowly growing wider and wider until finally he was grinning like an idiot. Hide noticed, because of course he did, and slid closer, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, softly scratching the fabric of his jacket with the tips of his fingers. They watched as the sun sank down and painted the sky in wild colours. It was getting a bit chilly now though, so they got off the bench and continued walking again, hand in hand. As they walked, Haise listened to Hide’s stories; stories from their shared past, stories from his time with the ccg. He also learned that Hide was supposed to be dead right now, at least according to the ccg employee files. Well that was an interesting new fact. 

“Hey, let’s go grab some food over there! I’m starving.”

Haise froze. Did Hide know, about Kaneki, about him? 

“It’s okay Haise, I know.”

He...knows. That could still mean a thousand other things. Maybe he “knows” about a peanut allergy or something. 

Haise just followed Hide into the small bar.

They were immediately greeted by the short waiter behind the bar, “ _ irasshai mase”. _

Hide took the lead and walked over to the bar.

“What would you like to order?”

“Can I have one black coffee and one bowl of kijoyu udon.”

“Okay, please wait.”

Haise relaxed. Hide knew about him, Hide knew and he didn’t care.

Their food, Hide’s food, arrived and he paid the bill before dragging Haise to one of the counters in the back. Hide handed him his coffee and started eating his own noodles, which was made extra difficult due to his lack of certain muscles in that general area, still he managed to work them down. 

“Are you actually going to eat something healthy with that or is that just your dinner for the night?”

“What are you talking about? This is healthy enough! Besides, what are you gonna do about it, make me eat a salad, shove a cucumber down my throat, don’t answer that?”

Haise burst into laughter as he felt his face grow red. 

“Stop it Hide, they’ll hear you.”

“So? They don’t care. This is a fast food place, Haise, they get all sorts of people here. Look at them, they don’t care about us, even with me looking like this.” He gestured wildly at his own face.

“You’re probably right.”

They finished their food in silence and left with a short “Thanks for the food!”

\----

They aimlessly wandered down the street until they passed by a clothing store. 

“Hey, look at that coat. It kinda fits your whole general aesthetic.”

“What is that supposed to mean?!”

“It means that it suits you, Haise.”

“It is a nice coat…”

“You want it? I’ll buy it for you.”

“Hide, you don’t have to do that.”

“What if I want to? Besides, it’s not like I’m using the money for anything. Let me buy you something?”

“Sure.”

It really was a nice coat; it had a nice pinstripe pattern, which did in fact match with essentially his entire wardrobe, and the inside was lined with a fluffy, fur-like fabric. It was also really warm, which was very welcome in the freezing temperatures of the night. Hide had purchased an equally warm jacket for himself too, to make Haise feel less bad probably. It worked.

“It’s getting pretty late, I should probably head home,” Haise said morosely. He didn’t really want to go home yet, but he had to make sure the kids went to bed on time since they had a meeting early the next morning. 

“Let me walk with you?”

“Gladly.”

They reached the chateau and this time Hide followed him all the way to the door.

“Do you want to come in? I can make you some more food.”

“I would love to. Are your kids still up?”

“Ah, they shouldn’t be, but knowing them they probably are.”

Hide chuckled as Haise opened the door. Light flooded out, the kids were definitely still awake. In fact, they were all sitting in the living room.

“Hide, wait here just a second while I go talk to them, okay?”

“Anything you say, darling.”

Haise felt himself blush, but there was no time for that now. He turned around and walked into the living room.

“Hey kids, I’m back!”

“Who was that with you? Is he your date,” Shirazu asked. 

“Yes, he is. Listen, I want you all to be polite, okay. So no staring, no rude questions. That also goes for you, Urie. Got it?”

The four teenagers just nodded silently.

“Hide, you can come in now.”

* * *

###  Meeting the family

Hide stepped out of the hallway and waved at the children excitedly. 

“Hey guys! I’m Hide, Haise’s boyfriend.”

He still wore his facemask, a bright blue one with yellow ducks on it. Somehow he’d managed to match his mask to his socks, which were equally bright blue and yellow. 

Saiko was the first to react, jumping off the couch and running over to pull Hide into a tight embrace. He nearly fell over, but luckily Haise was there to catch him. Shirazu and Mutsuki politely introduced themselves, though they were visibly very excited about meeting Haise’s date. Urie just remained in his seat, only giving Hide a nod in acknowledgement of his presence. 

“Now, I know this is all very exciting, but we have to get up early tomorrow morning, so I need you all to go to bed now, please.”

Hide just looked at his boyfriend, he really was their mom, huh? 

The kids slowly got up and started heading for their rooms, even Urie (not because Sasaki had told him to, but because he just didn’t want to be there if something happened between Haise and his boyfriend.)

Soon, the two of them were alone again. 

“Let me see what I have, I should be able to make something with this,” Haise mumbled as he rummaged through the fridge and the cabinets. Hide just stared at him, following his every move with his eyes. He’d probably missed this the most, just hanging out with Kaneki at either of their apartments, going about their business. The context was a bit different this time, but it was still practically the same thing. 

Minutes later he had a bowl of hot, stir fried vegetables in front of him. Not the most elaborate dish, but he cherished it nonetheless, Haise had cooked this  _ for him. _

“Thank you,” he said with a lopsided smile (half of his face was still missing after all).

“No problem. Oh and since you asked,” Haise grabbed something from the fridge and placed it on the table before him. A cucumber. 

He just stared up at Haise with a blank expression.

“Oh, cucumber on Hide, don’t be such a dead beet!”

“Haise, you really are such a special human bean,” Hide replied smugly.

“Now lettuce enjoy this wonderful, healthy meal.”

“Thank you, dear, and can I just say, you look absolutely radishing.”

“SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU TWO!” a voice called from upstairs, causing Hide and Haise to start giggling profusely.

“Oh, just keep calm and carrot on, my wayward son!”

A door slammed shut upstairs. 

After that, the two held a whispered conversation.

“You’ve seen my house now, but you still haven’t told me where you live.”

“Oh, I’m, kinda between houses right now. Turns out it’s actually pretty hard for a dead guy to rent an apartment.”

“Oh, well, you’re free to spend the night here but I’m afraid you can’t move in here. This is still a ccg building and if you don’t want them to know about you, you probably shouldn’t live here.”

“I know, thank you. I just need to find a way to get back into society.”

“Hmm.” Haise made a face as if he was thinking about something deeply.

“What is it?”

“I think I may know a way...you see, there’s this guy, he runs a shop, he makes masks. I believe he also makes fake IDs. I’ll text you the address right now, hold on...there.”

“Thanks. Hey, how exactly do you know this guy?”

“He helped us out in a mission once, and I believe I may have known him in my previous life.”

“Okay, cool. I’ll swing by there tomorrow then.”

Haise smiled as he watched Hide eat. He had to turn his head slightly sideways, to avoid the food spilling out of the hole on one side. It kinda reminded him of a dog or cat eating something large and using the floor to keep it in place. 

“What are you staring at?”

“Oh just,” he gestured vaguely at Hide, “you.”

Hide pushed his chair back and stood up, turning to face Haise, “see something you like?”

Haise just hummed happily as Hide pulled him into a hug. 

“I’m actually pretty tired, wanna go to bed,” Hide asked, the sound muffled by Haise’s shoulder.

“Uh, yeah sure, I eh...yeah.”

“Haise, it’s fine, it’s just a bed. We used to do this all the time, Kaneki and I. So, where to?”

“Follow me.”

Haise grabbed his hand and led him up the stairs, turning off all the lights on the way up. They entered the dark room and Haise quietly closed the door behind them. 

“Wait here,” Haise told him, again, before heading to his closet and pulling out a clean shirt and some underwear. “Here, put these on so I can put your clothes in the washer.”

Hide calmly followed the instructions. When Haise had left to put in the laundry, he made himself at home, laying down on the bed and inspecting the room with his eyes. He stopped for a second to inspect the poster across the room.  _ Banana? _

At that point, Haise walked back into the room. Hide just couldn’t help himself, “So...you like bananas, huh?” As an added bonus he waggled his eyebrows a few times. A loud “ugh” was audible through the bedroom walls. Haise buried his face in his hands, both to hide the blush and to stifle his own laughter. “Please be quiet Hide, we don’t want to wake up the rest of the bunch.”

He quietly undressed himself and put on a somewhat clean t-shirt before joining Hide on the bed. The bed obviously wasn’t made for two people, but they made it work somehow. 

“Goodnight. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

* * *

###  Good morning

Haise was downstairs, cooking breakfast on his own. 

Hide was the first to join him, still only clad in Haise’s t-shirt and underwear. He stumbled over and hugged him from behind, burying his face in Haise’s back.

“Not a morning person then?”

Hide just made an odd squeaking noise into his shirt. 

“Good morning Sassan, Good morning Hide!”

“Ah, Mutsuki, good morning. Say, could you lend me a hand? Can you grab the plates for me. I’d do it myself but I’m afraid I’m a bit trapped at the moment.” He wriggled a bit, as if to show Tooru his current predicament. Hide just gripped him even tighter in response, for good measure.

Tooru smiled to himself and did as he was asked. 

“I hope he isn’t permanently attached, Sassan. That would make training a lot more challenging.”

Haise laughed at Mutsuki’s joke, he’d taught him well. 

“Well, maybe I am, permanently attached,” Hide mumbled, already falling asleep again. 

“No you’re not. Now would you please go put on some pants at least, we have to leave for work in an hour and I believe you have an appointment to get to. 

Reluctantly, Hide detached himself from Haise and turned around. A small gasp came from the direction of the table.  _ Oh right, my face. _

“Mutsuki, don’t stare.”  _ You’re truly a blessing Haise. _

One hour later Hide and Haise said their goodbyes while the quinx squad patiently waited for their mentor. 

“Come on, maman, we’re going to be late!”

\--

“I believe I have to go now. Don’t forget your appointment! Bye.”

“Wait, when can I see you again?”

“I have a show this evening, meet me there.”

Hide nodded.

They parted ways.

He faintly heard the kids tease Haise as they walked away.

“Sasaki, that’s a girl’s jacket.”

“No it isn’t, it’s my jacket, I’m wearing it.”

Hide followed the directions Haise had sent him the night before and easily found the store. He spent a few minutes wandering around the basement, inspecting the many masks that were on display. When he finally found an opening he took his chance and approached the tattooed man with the black eyes.

“Hi there, what can I do for you, young man? Need a mask? Some tattoos?”

“I actually have a different request. Could we maybe talk in private?”

* * *

###  A fresh start

“Yo! Haise!”

Hide sounded excited as he called out to him. He’d taken the kids on a short trip to the city and had been reading on a bench, enjoying the warmth of the sun, for a while now. 

Haise glanced over in the direction the sound had come from and noticed Hide sprinting at him, full speed. He stood up to greet the blond boy, but was immediately thrown back into his seat again by the force of Hide’s hug. 

“Oh, sorry! Hey, look at this!” Hide pulled a card out of his pocket and held it in front of him with both hands, doing a small little dance to really showcase it. It was a brand new ID card.

“Look, Haise, I’m Hideyoshi Ito now!”

“Hide, this is wonderful! So what’s the first thing you’re going to do, now that you’re no longer dead?” Haise asked with a smile as he pulled Hide into the seat next to him. 

“Rent an apartment obviously!” Hide looked around a bit, probably looking for something to do. Haise sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small plastic cube with an arrangement of buttons and switches. 

“Here, try this.”

Hide just looked up at him, slightly surprised.

“What? You’re not the only one who’s perceptive.”

“Thanks.”

It only took a few seconds for Hide to figure out which side was his favourite. The soft clicking of the buttons seemed to have a calming effect on the both of them and soon they continued chatting. 

The contents of their conversation weren’t that important. They talked about the book Haise was currently reading, a smutty romance novel. Hide told him that Kaneki used to love horror, Haise couldn’t even begin to imagine that. Who actually  _ likes _ that stuff, it’s spooky. 

“And what kinds of books do you read, Hide?”

Hide thought about it for a while, formulating his answer, “I don’t really read books much, fiction that is. I generally find something I’m interested in and go on a spree, reading every book and article I can find on the subject, until I lose interest, then I move on. I never really stuck to a single genre.” He shrugged and acted as if it was the most normal matter in the world, to him it probably was.

“So, what is your interest now?”

Hide’s eyes lit up in excitement and he balled his hands up into fists, raising them up to his chin.

“Okay, so, I was out doing stuff one night, right, and I found this little booklet! I just put it in my bag without looking, but when I came home I found it again and started reading. Now there was this one mute character who speaks using only sign language and I thought it was interesting and basically I’ve been learning sign language almost nonstop for the past week now,” he pushed out almost in a single breath. He took a deep breath before rambling on, showing Haise all the signs he’d learned and talking about what they meant. Haise just listened intently, trying to absorb as much information as he could gather from the stream. He realised that he really loved watching Hide get so excited about trivial things and made a mental note to inquire about his special interests more often. 

That was how the kids found them after they’d finally returned from their shopping spree; Haise sitting sideways on the bench, chin propped up on his arm, and Hide talking a string of words, signing wildly as he spoke. 

They were just glad to see their Maman happy, he deserved at least that much. They’d figured he’d been through a lot; the white hair kind of gave it away (it was too soft and too white to be bleached or dyed. He was too fit for it to be a vitamin deficiency or disease. So the only other thing they could come up with was Marie Antoinette Syndrome, after that they decided to stop researching; none of them really wanted to know any more).

On the way home, Saiko decided to tell everyone about what she’d bought. She showed them the video games and consoles, some random cookbook she’d found “Maman, you should definitely try some of this out”, and finally her new alarm clock which also happened to be a bouncy ball (she’d already broken the previous six alarm clocks in her room and this felt like a good idea). 

* * *

###  We’re all good

Hide eventually found himself a small apartment a few streets away from the chateau. Since it was still too risky to go out and be recognised, but he did manage to land a job as a research blogger for a popular magazine where he’d be able to ramble on about whatever he pleased as long as it was formatted correctly. 

He did spend most of his time at the chateau, which just happened to have very few sensory stimuli and proved to be an excellent working environment. Although he might’ve spent a little too much time there, since Saiko had now started referring to him as Papa, to go with the way she referred to Haise. The others simply treated him the same way they did their mentor, so Mutsuki and Shirazu were respectful though slightly childish and Urie was just a tad rude but mainly avoided him. The first time Hide had taken off his mask in front of the Quinxes, he’d been scared they would reject him, that they would think he wasn’t good enough. Obviously they didn’t, he should have known better than to think any child of Haise’s would be capable of doing something like that. 

He’d finally found a family.

Of course neither Akira nor Arima were idiots, they’d figured there was still a secret Haise had been keeping from them, but thanks to Saiko’s “special tactic” of bombarding them with tales of romance etc., they soon lost any interest to learn more. 

Things were finally looking up again. 

  
  



	2. Bonus Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened one week ago?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, remember that random storyline from the first chapter that I then never ended up elaborating on? During yet another sleepless night, my brain finally conjured up something related to said storyline, so I guess we'll have to count this as a resolve. This is probably as good as we're gonna get anyway.

The bar was crowded. Laughing people stood on unsteady legs as they held their glasses up to avoid other running into them, causing them to spill. 

The Reaper waded through the inebriated crowd. He stuck out like a sore thumb; a stoic man in formal attire amidst the partygoers. Arima Kishou was alert, scanning each and every face, looking for any suspicious activity, a specific kind of suspicious activity, that is.

There it was! The movement was quick and easy to miss, but it was there nonetheless. Arima followed the man as he carried the two glasses of alcohol over to the young drag queen he’d been chatting up almost the entire evening. 

Just as the man was about to hand over the glass, Arima grabbed his elbow and yanked the arm holding the tainted glass back. The contents of said glass sloshed around and a large quantity spilled over the edge and soaked the man’s button up shirt. 

“What the hell’s your problem, man,” the guy exclaimed as he spun around, an angry look on his face. Arima, however, outdid the man as to angry looks. The man, intimidated, took a small step back with a small sliver of fear flashing across his eyes. 

“Uh, I mean, can I help you with anything, sir?”

Arima took a folded piece of paper from his pocket and unfolded it. He held the picture up for the man to see, “Do you recognise him?”

The man seemed to think about it for a while, but after a minute of contemplation, recognition flashed across his face. He adopted an assertive look and crossed his arms in front of him, “Yeah, what about him, what is he to you?”

“That is none of your business. How do you know him?” Arima sent the man a threatening look. The message was clear, ‘don’t lie or you’re dead’. 

Sweat started to bead up on the man’s forehead, “Well, he kinda looks like Sasako.” Arima nodded in affirmation. “And I did talk to her a while back, I don’t know, maybe a week?” The man attempted a nonchalant shrug, but it just looked tense and shaky. 

“Did you now. Gave her one of your special drinks too then,” Arima asked as he gestured at the glass half empty, which the man was still limply holding in his right hand. 

The change was immediate. The man’s eyes widened in fear and Arima could see the muscles in his neck tense up. The man took another step backwards and threw the two glasses of alcohol towards Arima. 

The Reaper threw his arms up to protect his eyes from the stinging alcohol that was launched at him. When he finally lowered them he could just see the man’s back disappear through the front door. Arima wiped his face clean of the slightly burning liquid and started to give chase. 

He followed the frightened man onto the main street, which gave him the chance to switch to a sprint, making it easier for him to catch up to him. The young man attempted to flee through a dark alley, but Arima was faster and soon he had the man pinned up against the wall. 

“Dude, dude, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to kill the kid. And besides, he’s not even dead! He was performing just yesterday night,” the man rambled on, in a desperate attempt to save himself. 

“Tell me what you did to him. All of it.”

The man seemed surprised, but he jumped at the chance to waste some more time, “You were right, sir! I did give him a drink, and then we left together. I took him to some random alley, kinda like the one we’re in right now actually… I-I just wanted to have some fun with him! He was fine with it, I swear!” Arima tightened his grip on the man’s collar. “And yes, maybe I did try to kill him, emphasis on try(!), but you and I both know I didn’t. He’s fine now, isn’t he? So you can just let me go and we can leave this whole ordeal behind us, like civilised human beings.”

“There is nothing civil about what you did.”

“Why do you care so much anyway, is he your boyfriend or something?”

Arima leaned in close, bringing his mouth near the other’s ear, “That ‘kid’ is my son, and you hurt him. Die.”

Arima twisted his knife plunged deep into the man’s stomach. He watched as blood coated the inside of the man’s mouth and small amounts of it started to seep out. He watched as the man’s fearful eyes turned up to catch his own once again, pleading for forgiveness they would never receive. He watched as those same eyes turned dull and the man fell limply against his shoulder. 

With a thud, the dead body hit the floor, left for the various wild animals in the area to scavenge upon. 

The Reaper quietly crouched down to clean his knife using the fabric of the blood and alcohol soaked dress shirt. When he was done, he calmly rose to his feet and turned around, not sparing the corpse a second look. Not a hint of regret or remorse in his body, he waltzed down the street. 

In his mind he already planned out the next training session. He’d have to teach Haise to defend himself more, to not accept drinks from strangers. Haise needed to be better. After all, if word got out of the half ghoul’s failure, his own reputation as a mentor would be tarnished, and he would not stand for that.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to be writing on my original story, but instead my brain was very adamant I finish this story. As someone who frequently abandons projects due to lost interest, this was a rarity so I could not pass up the chance. This bout of inspiration lasted me a whole thirty minutes, so if this chapter seems a bit hurried, that's why, I was working with a time limit.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't remember half of what I wrote last night, but I just posted it without editing because why not.
> 
> Apparently I put titles in random spots in this story...I'm just gonna leave those there.
> 
> "What happened to Haise when he got drugged?" - I honestly don't know. I think he might've gotten murdered, or y'know, every girl's biggest fear. Something like that. Somebody else can write that, I ain't doing it. (update: I did do just that)


End file.
